The Second Generation Time Mishap

Chapter 18: Sometimes pains more than Physical!

At Hogwarts Madam Pomfrey had worked tirelessly on the little cherub who was the cause of 25 children been sent into the past. She had been informed that the little girl who had been in her care for the past 47 hours was in fact the daughter of Draco Malfoy, Aquila. As a heeler it was her job to treat all that came into her care regardless of their heritage. She couldn't help hoping that this little girl grew up in a world that was different to that of her father. Pomfrey had been the heeler to deliver Draco and had never seen such a happy smiling baby. It was a shame that the little bundle of joy Narcissa had given birth during her 7th year had turned into an emotionless brooding copy of his father. No child should have influences such as Lucius.

Pomfrey was drawn out of her musing by a quiet cry from the small bassinet next to her. Standing up she lent down and picked up the platinum blonde with startling crystal blue eyes. Rubbing her back and muttering soothing sounds she gently calmed her back to sleep. Placing her back in the cot, Pomfrey raised her wand, muttering diagnostic charms to see how her health was improving. Seeing that all was as it should, Pomfrey sent off her Dove Patronus to Dumbledore to inform him that the cherub was ready to be reunited with her friends in the morning.

Settling down in a bed next to the cot, Pomfrey went to sleep but in the future not all was as calm.

"Crucio"

Marcus screamed as pain like a thousand knifes tore through his body. After a few minutes Hermione stopped and fell to her knees next to the shaking body of her once lover.

"Again" Marcus gritted out.

"Crucio" Hermione whimpered, shaking violently.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHH! He screamed

"Crucio"

"AAAHHHHHHH"

Hermione was full out crying, her arm shaking madly as she attempted to cast the curse again.

"C-crucio"

"HERMIONE, HERMIONE STOP!" Ron's voice sounded. Raising her head, she looked towards the shield to see Bill working on her wards. He'd already gotten rid of her silencing spell, how long would it be until he got through and they stopped her. She looked down at Marcus, shaking on the floor and met his darkened eyes, filled with determination.

"Hermione, hurt me. Make me bleed you need to weaken me. Forget anything you've ever felt for me. Forget the year we spent been secret lovers. Forget how we saved each over. I'm a death eater, I killed people, I called you mudblood and meant it. Its people like me that caused you pain, people like me who tormented and broke you. I played you Granger, you got me pardoned and I played you like a piano. Why would I love a mudblood, you were nothing but a means to an end? I hate you!" He said all this with a determined edge but however much she tried to believe it, to make it easier for her to do what must be done, she didn't. His voice trembled and she knew he still loved her and deep down she knew that though not as much as Ron she loved the man before her too. All this was irrelevant because however much she loved him she loved the children and the world they had created after Voldemort's downfall more.

Tears streaming down her face she uttered the words she'd never known she felt until this moment when his life lay in her hands.

"I Love you!"

"I know now do it and mean it Hermione, for the children and for the world. Hurt me so all those who died didn't die in vain. Do it for Weasley because the love you hold for me is nothing like what you hold for him. He's your soul mate, I'm a past lover like Krum and your Muggle friend. I might wish that you'd said yes and eloped with me instead of marrying him and that Rose and Hugo were mine but you didn't and there not. We need to forget the past and save the present. Now do it Hermione.

Ignoring the shouting from those outside and the sobs of Ron who at last had conformation of her love however small in comparison to the love she held for him she felt for her previous lover. She raised her wand and screamed.

"CRUCIO-SECTUMSEMPRA-CRUCIO"

Blood splattered everywhere and he screamed, begging her to stop as his complexion paled. Taking this as breaking point, Hermione summoned all her courage and blasted her way into his mind. She saw the first time they slept together, against the wall in Knockturn Alley. She saw him sat at the back, silently crying as she said I Do with Ron. She witnessed him taking the dark mark and watched as a killing curse hit his little sister during the final battle.

Finally, she broke through to the Memories of the Time Room. They had been experimenting with time. recreating time turners after most were destroyed in the battle of the Department of Mysteries.

They had created a way to travel foreword in time and had designed but not created a device with the capacity to go both back and forward in time. Having what she needed, Hermione set about healing Marcus, first stopping the cuts with Dittany from her handbag which she carried everywhere. She then gave him a blood replenishment potion to restore the blood he had removed. Finally, she gave him a new potion developed by herself that reduces the effects of the cruciatus curse.

Leaving Marcus on the floor with her jacket under head and a light kiss to his temple Hermione walked over to a blank wall opposite the clock. Tapping it in certain places and muttering a sequence of spells and passwords she waited for the doorway to open up as it had whilst exploring his mind.

Once it opened she walked over to the cabinet at the far side of the nook she had entered. Removing all the protection charms she entered the second door down and emptied it into her beaded bag before walking back out to Marcus who was still unconscious on the floor.

Checking once more to see if he would be alright, Hermione turned to see what was going on outside the room. Most of the people who had been there had left, most likely sent away by Kingsley and Harry. Only members of the Order of the Phoenix remained. There was Kingsley, who looked disappointed with her but who also had a look of acceptance as even as minister of magic he wouldn't have been given clearance to access the Time Room for at least four weeks. Who knows what could happen in that time frame with children in the past.

"Let the wards down Hermione, so Susan can treat Marcus. You're not in trouble you didn't do anything that Marcus didn't agree to. We've wiped the minds of everyone who wasn't a member of the order and sent them away. Copy the notes, and replace them then reset all the wards and let's return to the Potters." Kingsley said in a calm tone as Bill, Harry, Ron and Michael Conner the only unspeakable other than Marcus who was a member of the order of the Phoenix stayed back.

Hermione did as she was told silently copying the notes, resetting the wards and leaving the department with Marcus floating behind her, leaving the others to deal with the damage caused. She flooed back to the Potters where Susan Bones was waiting to finish heeling Marcus.